Jamaica ~ Sharp

Jamaica ~ Cook Jamaica ~ Sharp Jamaica ~ Hume Jamaica ~ Hume, Old Style Progression

Jamaica ~ Sharp is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1670 in The Dancing Master, 4th ed., London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1911 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 2). Found in The Playford Ball. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 16 bars.

Playford writes:

The first man take his wo. by the right hand, then by the left, and so holding hands change places, then do the same to the 2. wo. the 1. wo. and 2 man do the same Then fall back from your own, the 1. cu. being in the 2. cu. place, go the Figure of 8 Do this to the last.
The 1. man take hands with the 2. wo. and turn her round, the 1. wo. and 2 man do as much Then the two men take hands, and the two we. take hands, and turn once and an half, then turn your own Do this to the last.

The tune was published with the dance, and the music was synthesized by Colin Hume's software.

The animation plays at 107 counts per minute normally, but the first time through the set the dance will often be slowed down so people can learn the moves more readily (no music plays during this slow set). Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color, however the border of each dancer indicates what role they currently play so the border color may change each time through the minor set.

I.A1-41s take right, take left turn half
5-81s face neighbors, take right, left, turn half
I.B1-81s full figure 8 up through 2s, then cross to change places with partner
II.A1-4New 1st corners two hand turn
5-82nd corners two hand turn
II.B1-4Two hand turn same sex neighbor once and a half
5-8Two hand turn partner

If you find what you believe to be a mistake in this animation, please leave a comment on youtube explaining what you believe to be wrong. If I agree with you I shall do my best to fix it.

If you wish to link to this animation please see my comments on the perils of youtube. You may freely link to this page, of course, and that should have no problems, but use one of my redirects when linking to the youtube video itself:
https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=Jamaica-Duple

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The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2020 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This website is copyright © 2021,2022,2023,2024 by George W. Williams V
Creative Commons License My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.